For this week’s Freak Show Friday we delve into the union of two homogeneous Volkswagens. Many freaks are assembled from disparate pieces. It sometimes looks like the builders just grabbed what was laying around the homestead in a drunken stupor. It’s a mystery just why they picked what they picked to make what they made. And sometimes it’s an amazing mystery why anyone with the ability to put a freak together would use the pieces they end up using.

This Freak Show combines VW to VW in a careful blend of the two

But this week’s freak is a different animal. The owner took extreme care and thought into combining only Volkswagen to Volkswagen. No brand crossing took place in this build. And we commend the builder for taking the care necessary to combine these rather two disparate VWs.

So, what are we looking at? It’s easy to see and easy on the eyes. Well. forget about being easy on the eyes. But that’s why you check out the freaks on Freak Show Friday; it’s like a train wreck, you can’t not look at it.

Was this Freak Show a vision or out of necessity?

We’ve got a VW Microbus up front that is mated to the back half of a Volkswagen Karmann Ghia. Was this a vision or out of necessity? We’ll never know. But look how carefully the builder blended the back to the front with the sexy paint scheme of white and blobby green. It can’t be easy to get that type of dark-to-light blending the painter managed to achieve, don’t you agree?

The magic in this combination of two air-cooled VWs is that the controls of the Microbus can seamlessly be hooked up to the Ghia engine and transmission. Fabrication is kept to a bare minimum. It’s genius! We’re sure the builder took a long time in planning what they would hook up to the back of the front of their Microbus. Or, what front they would hook to their Karmann Ghia back.

We’d like to think the joining of the two was serendipitous

Even more magical would have been if these two pieces of VW were resting in the same wrecking yard, or backyard depending on your living situation. We’ll never know but we’d like to think the joining of the two was serendipitous. 

If we were to diss a single aspect of this build it might be the plywood used for the back of the cab. Really, that’s the best you could do? When so much thought was put into the rest of this exotic union? We do love the rear window pattern; we’ve got nothing bad to say about it. It’s beautiful.

But combining metal to metal with plywood seems like a lazy way out. With the craftsmanship exhibited in the rest of the work performed why cheap out with a plywood back? Does the Ghia attach to the wood or to the Microbus body? It makes a difference in terms of how the final product is judged. We would hope that the bodies are joined with metal welded to metal and not with screws through the wood.

Here’s the final genius about our Freak Show Friday subject

The final genius about our freak is the tonneau covering the Ghia’s pickup box. We’re assuming the seats have been ripped out. If not then this build becomes even more confusing. The Ghia void makes for a functional truck this builder can be proud of. It’s a work truck for the creative. 

Not only can you access your load through the top of the bed but the Ghia doors look operable so access can be gained from the sides as well. A thoughtful design element that is unique to this unique truck.